ORDER EDENTATA. 253 



We are told that they let themselves fall from a 

 branch, in order to avoid the trouble of descending 

 otherwise. They haye but one young at a birth, 

 which they carry on the back. 



The viscera of these animals are as singular as the 

 rest of their conformation. Their stomach is divided 

 into four sacs, analogous to the four stomachs of the 

 Ruminantia, but, without leaves, or other salient 

 parts interiorly, while their intestinal canal is short, 

 and without a caecum. 



The Ai (Brady pus Tridactylus, L.), Buff. XII. v. and vi. 



Is the species in which inertness, and the details 

 of organization which induce it, are carried to 

 the highest degree. It has three toes, or ra- 

 ther three nails on each foot ; the thumb and 

 the little toe reduced to mere rudiments, hidden 

 under the skin, and attached to the metatarse 

 and metacarpe ; the clavicle, also rudimentary, 

 is attached to the acromion. The arms are twice 

 the length of the legs; the hairs of the head, 

 back, and limbs, are long, thick and without 

 elasticity, almost like dried grass, which gives it 

 an hideous air. Its colour is gray, often spotted 

 on the back with brown and white. Many in- 

 dividuals have between the shoulders a bright 

 fulvous spot, which traverses a black longitu- 

 dinal line. We are ignorant whether it forms 

 a distinct species. Its size is that of a Cat, 

 and it has a very short tail. It is the only 



Vol. III. T 



